Law enforcement has become increasingly reliant and aggressive toward ordinary citizens in using asset forfeiture to fund its operations. For 14 years, the Cato Institute ranked Vermont around No. 10 among the 50 states for asset protection. But we’ve recently dropped to No. 15.

Five St. Albans residents were arrested and charged with providing false information to firearms dealers in the purchase of around 30 firearms that were allegedly smuggled into Boston, Massachusetts, in connection with criminal gang activity.

A spike in illegal crossings at the Vermont-Canadian border has some law enforcement officials questioning the state’s fair and impartial policing policy that prohibits officers from asking about a person’s immigration status.

The objective of prison reform is to reduce recidivism rates, thereby improving public safety. Cotton agrees that “[o]nce a criminal has paid his debt to society, everyone should hope he gets back on his feet and becomes a productive, law-abiding citizen.” Precisely.

There were a total of 183,058 prisoners in Bureau of Prisons custody as of Dec. 31, 2017, according to the government’s quarterly assessment. Of those, 38,132 — or 21 percent — were known or suspected aliens. Nearly two-thirds of that foreign-born prison population did not have lawful immigration status, the DOJ/DHS report stated.

The startling results of a Colorado Department of Transportation survey about marijuana-impaired driving don’t likely bode well for Vermont, but the head of Public Safety says his department has no plans to find out, even as the July 1 date for legal pot possession draws near.